The USA Falls To Its Lowest-Ever Position In The World Happiness Report 2025

The US dropped to the world’s 24th happiest country, its lowest-ever position since the report began and a far cry from its highest placement of 11th in 2012. The slump follows last year’s report that saw the US drop out of the top 20 for the first time. 

The UK isn’t doing much better, settling in at 23rd with its lowest average life evaluation since the 2017 report. Australia has dropped out of the top 10, now ranking at 11th with New Zealand just behind in the 12th spot. Canada is down three spots from last year too, coming in at 18th place. 

The gaps are being partially filled by certain countries in the Americas and Eastern Europe. Costa Rica (6th) and Mexico (10th) make their debut in the top 10, while countries like Lithuania (16th), Slovenia (19th), and Czechia (20th) continue their upward trajectory.

Finland, once again, leads the world in happiness for the eighth year running. Close behind them are several Nordic countries, as well as a sprinkling of entries from elsewhere in the world. 

Here are the world’s 10 happiest countries, according to the 2025 report:

1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Sweden
5. Netherlands
6. Costa Rica 
7. Norway 
8. Israel 
9. Luxembourg
10. Mexico 

The World Happiness Report 2025 is the latest publication of an ongoing project by the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, that aims to rank national happiness based on respondent ratings of their own lives and various factors related to quality of life. 

It isn’t all about wealth and health. The report carefully analyzes an array of factors including things like GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, social connectedness, sense of freedom, generosity, and perceptions of corruption. Country rankings are determined by the three-year average of each population’s overall quality of life assessment.

One interesting metric utilized in the report is the concept of a lost wallet. If you were to drop a valued possession in public, do you believe someone in your community would return it? A strong sense of trust in others in this way can be treated as a reliable indicator of a population’s overall happiness, according to the report. 

Nordic countries always tend to rank highly among the top places for expected and actual return of lost wallets, suggesting these countries have a high level of trust, social integration, and optimism about other people. 

Generally speaking, the world tends to be too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities compared to reality. Actual rates of wallet return are around twice as high as people expect. In other words, people are likely to be kinder than you imagine.

“Happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth – it’s about trust, connection and knowing people have your back. This year’s report proves we underestimate how kind the world really is. If we want stronger communities and economies, we must invest in what truly matters: each other,” Jon Clifton, CEO of Gallup, said in a statement.

Another interesting factor explored by the report is whether people tend to share meals with others, which is strongly linked with wellbeing across all global regions. The report found that the number of people dining alone in the US has increased 53 percent over the past two decades. While this isn’t to say that lone dinnertimes are the direct cause of slumping happiness in the US, it might be an indication of a wider decline of social connectedness in the country. 

“It turns out that sharing meals and trusting others are even stronger predictors of wellbeing than expected. In this era of social isolation and political polarisation we need to find ways to bring people around the table again – doing so is critical for our individual and collective wellbeing,” remarked Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, a professor of economics at the University of Oxford and an editor of the World Happiness Report, said:

“The findings in this year’s World Happiness Report reconfirm a fundamental truth: happiness is rooted in trust, kindness, and social connection. It is up to us as virtuous individuals and citizens to translate this vital truth into positive action, thereby fostering peace, civility, and wellbeing in communities worldwide,” added Jeffrey D. Sachs, President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a founding editor of the World Happiness Report.